Rats of Reality
by fanaticalParadox
Summary: Highschool AU: After flunking many of her classes Yang is transferred to a remedial course, however the students in this new class are different from her other friends; more rough around the edges. Meanwhile, Ruby is greeted with a far too enthusiastic transfer student. [Nuts and Dolts, Bumblebee, Emcury and minor Arkos] Rating will change.
1. Chapter 1

_**Rats of Reality**_

 **Highschool AU: After flunking many of her classes Yang is transferred to a remedial course, however the students in this new class are different from her other friends; more rough around the edges. Meanwhile, Ruby is greeted with a far to enthusiastic transfer student. [Nuts and Dolts, Bumblebee, Emcury and minor Arkos]**

Chapter 1:

When Yang entered the classroom, she was greeted with the strong stench of failure. Maybe she had gotten used to pristine buildings and smiling faces, but she felt like anyone from any background would cringe at the sights before her. Previously, she believed that any and all pupils at Beacon High were like her or her friends, had enough money to get by and generally cared about their futures. Everyone in this class however looked like they expected to remain right where they were forever.

Yang Xiao Long immediately regretted everything she had done to get to this point; standing in this classroom, looking at these 'students' that would be her classmates for the next six months.

The entirety of the class was in chaos. A silver haired guy clad in a leather jacket was practically having sex with this mint haired, dark skinned girl. There was what looked older than a senior, black locks sweeping across her shoulder, smoking with a similarly aged orange haired guy and an extremely short girl with dyed hair. Other students were talking loudly and obviously gave zero shits about getting in trouble since they were throwing paper and various school supplies every which way. The teacher obviously didn't care, her feet were on her empty desk and she was lazily reading a magazine. Yang looked at the blackboard behind the woman, and read the only thing written there: _Ms. Salem._

The only normal looking person in the room was sitting in the corner, dressed in school uniform reading a book and ignoring everything— and something about her was off, she was almost _too_ out of place. The girl looked up for a moment at Yang with a golden gaze, she subtly pointed to the teacher mouthing something that Yang could translate into "Don't just stand there." She nodded, inwardly thanking the bow-clad girl for making her situation a little less awkward.

Yang walked over to Ms. Salem slowly, clearing her throat. The pale, red eyed woman looked her over, snatching the schedule change form from Yang's hand rudely, scanning over the note from the headmaster, Professor Ozpin, explaining the normally boisterous blonde's reason for being there, almost halfway through the school year. She tossed it towards the trashcan, missing it and turning back to Yang. "Okay Xiao Long," She said, sighing, increasing her voice's volume as she continued, "You can sit next to Ms. Belladonna, once it stops doubling as a lover's suite, _Mr. Black and Ms. Sustrai."_ She pointed with a spindly finger to a desk that was currently being used for the aforementioned making out session. The guy flipped her off, and the girl rolled her eyes but they moved one desk over, while Yang moved to the back of the classroom, sitting on the seat but not touching the desk part.

She looked to her right, relieved that she was sitting next to someone who didn't seem that bad (in retrospective). Yang held her hand out to the girl "I'm Yang Xiao Long. And you are…?" The girl didn't look up from her book, but answered with "Blake Belladonna."

She didn't say anything else but Yang felt a little more comfortable there. When the bell eventually rang for class to start, surprisingly everyone quieted and resituated themselves into what Yang assumed were assigned seats, since Ms. Salem looked at a seating chart rather than taking attendance. To her dismay, Yang was sitting next to the silver haired guy, and behind his girlfriend— she had a feeling that they'd do that entire note passing, hand holding couple bullshit. She groaned and leaned her head against the wall, listening to Ms. Salem start the class.

"If you hadn't noticed, we have a new student– she transferred from Professor Oobleck's class. Don't weird her out or whatever." Too late for that "So I hope everyone read those three chapters of "The Thief and The Butcher" that I assigned last week, because I'm testing you on it. Don't worry, Xiao Long, you can take the test tomorrow." As Ms. Salem began passing out papers, a series of "feck's spread around the room. It seemed like no one but Blake and that girl in front of Yang had read the chapters. At this point, Yang expected no less.

The silver haired guy was banging his head on the desk and muttering, "Fuck me. The _one_ time she quizzes us…" His girlfriend rolled her eyes and turned to him, "I finished the whole thing the day she assigned it." He continued to groan as she berated him about the whole thing. Yang almost couldn't believe that the two of them were necking a minuet early.

"They always argue," Blake started suddenly, startling Yang "you get used to it I guess." Although the blonde had no idea how she'd get used to any of it, she was glad that Blake had initiated conversation in the first place. "To be honest I don't really know if I can," Yang replied, "I'm not used to this whole thing." Blake gave her a sympathetic glance before she got her test and began o read it over.

Now that the class was quiet, Yang had the next 20 minuets to absorb what was happening. On Friday she had been in a pristine classroom, with people who would go somewhere in life. Yang was smart; she had just gotten wrapped up in parties and hobbies that school became her extracurricular activity rather than the other way around. So naturally she failed the majority of her academic courses and ended up in a remedial class. She just didn't expect Beacon to stoop this low. This particular class doubled as a course that the kids who couldn't afford Beacon's prices could take. It was far better than any other high school in the area. So there Yang was, a piece of fantastical color and naivety among all the hardened rats of reality.

Author's note:

Okay so even though this fic _does_ focus a bit on Bumblebee and all of those ships in the description, that's not all it will be. This whole Yang bit will be her discovering how the world really works, and if this fic is finished (I hope) each character will get an arc, with an overarching Bumblebee plotline. Expect an update tomorrow!


	2. Chapter 2

Rats of Reality

Chapter 2:

Penny Polendina was a quirky girl; everything about her was strange, from her lopsided bow to her lopsided grin. Even her brain was a little lopsided. She wore her carrot colored hair in curls and her bright emerald colored eyes scanned the room in front of her excitedly and curiously. Every person she laid her eyes on was a potential friend, seeing as she had never really had a friend before- she was unaccustomed to those kinds of things. And despite Ruby Rose's hate of judging a book by its cover, she had a feeling that Penny was quite strange.

Apparently Penny was homeschooled, and once an opening had appeared in the class- her father had her immediately enrolled. Ruby felt like her only reason of animosity towards the girl was because the opening that the freckly girl had now filled was previously Yang's spot. Ruby had been bummed that her sister was no longer in Beacon's top class, and though that was by no means Penny's fault– Ruby blamed her slightly for it.

The ginger stood at the front of the classroom, grinning childishly as the teacher, Mr. Ooblek, introduced her to the class. "This here is Penny Polendina. She will be joining us today here at Beacon, so I hope you make her school experience a good one." Ooblek continued on rambling and Ruby tuned out. At least until the green haired teacher said Ruby's name, "Ms. Polendina, you can sit next to Ruby Rose over there by the door."

Ruby's stomach flipped. Would she really have to sit next to the one person that managed to weird her out before she even met them?

Penny sat down quirkily in Yang's old, empty desk and smiled at Ruby- her braces flashing. "I hope we can be good friends Ruby Rose!"

Shit.

The remedial course only had one teacher, and while Yang knew that Ms. Salem was bound to have enough knowledge to be a teacher, she was still unsure if the woman was actually good at teaching. The entire class seemed to respect her and follow her directions, but there weren't many directions to follow. Because of this whole "only one class" deal, apparently Ms. Salem would teach whatever she wanted for however long she wanted. That meant that rather than ending English with the pop quiz, she continued to ramble halfheartedly about the book.

Some students listened and took notes, since they probably weren't going to actually read the book. Some people were actually interested. Yang was one of those people; in her previous high leveled English courses, the books were all the same, holding family friendly messages or were written like a hundred years ago. This book had an interesting storyline, apparently they had just started but it intrigued her. It was about a serial killer who would cut up prostitutes and use their body parts to make dolls. It hadn't progressed very far apparently, but the subject matter was dark and dreary. The way Ms. Salem described it was like a character study rather than a horror- and Yang guessed that with the way she explained the main guy that the majority of the students related to him emotionally. They were all lowlifes in Yang's perspective.

Blake had gone back to the book she was reading before, but didn't refrain from throwing Yang a glance every few moments.

After what was basically a three hour English class, the lunch bell rang, and Yang was quite relieved to be out of the musky classroom. Unfortunately she didn't share a lunch with her old classmates and her friends anymore, and would either have to sit with one of her new classmates or sit alone; she prefered the former. And thus she waited outside the classroom for Blake, who was currently asking Ms. Salem something.

Blake seemed normal enough, and Yang felt the most comfortable around her. Maybe it was because she came to her aid at the beginning of class, or it was because she was the only one Yang had conversed with. Eventually the black haired girl walked out of the classroom, golden eyes flashing with mystery.

Yang strode as casually as humanly possible to Blake's side, "Hey Blake, I was wondering if I could possibly sit with you at lunch... All my friends have second lunch and I don't really want to sit alone."

Blake looked suprised by that question, shocked that Yang would want her company. "Sure, but I hope you don't mind sitting with cinders group." Blake said, nodding slightly.

"Who are they?" Yang asked as they turned corner. "The couple from before and the older girl who was smoking." Blake replied.

"Oh," Yang really didn't want to be subjected to that but she didn't have much of a choice. "You're friends with them?"

"Sort of, we sit together at lunch but I mostly read or something. I never hang with them outside of school. At least–" it looked like she was about to say something else but she cut herself off. "Anyways, I'm sure they wouldn't mind you joining us."

Yang nodded hesitantly as they entered the cafeteria. There weren't as many people in first lunch as in second lunch, but it was louder. Much louder. Blake strode calmly through the masses with Yang awkwardly following her. Anyone who knew Yang would question this behavior, since Yang was the headstrong and firey type.

"Normally we eat outside but it was rainy today." Blake said, as if apologizing for the other students who were making a racket. They eventually got to a half empty table where "Cinder's group" was sitting.

"Hey guys, the new girl, Yang, will be sitting with us today. If that's okay?"

They all nodded at Blake and smiled at Yang but they were quite engrossed of their conversion so they didn't say anything. They were very caught up in what they were saying.

"I'm just saying," the sliver haired guy started "that if a cupcake without icing can pass as a muffin, then I don't get why it can't work the other way around! If you show someone a cupcake without icing, they'll say it's a muffin. Because it is."

His green haired girlfriend face palmed. "Just because they look similar doesn't mean they are the same thing! They're made differently!"

"I don't think so. They typically are made with different flavors and specific items in them, but I think they're made the same way!"

"You think? Wow that's breaking news!"

"Fuck you!"

As their argument grew more and more heated, the other girl at the table, presumably Cinder, looked at Yang apologetically "I'm quite sorry- they always argue about petty things," she looked over at Blake curiously "though I am interested in the answer. Perhaps you can enlighten us Blake?"

Blake raised her eyebrows, eyes not leaving the words in her book "I'm sorry, what was the question again?"

'Mercury' rolled his eyes "if you put icing on a muffin, would that make it a cupcake?" She nodded and thought for a moment, they all looked at her expectantly, Yang was curious as well.

"Long answer: muffins tend to be coarser and less airy. They also have a different baking process, since you typically combine wet and dry ingredients separately then mix those together. Cupcakes, or cake in general, take more groups and careful stirring. The entire chemistry is quite different." she turned the page "Short answer? No."

The green haired girl (Emerald?) smirked triumphantly as Cinder patted Mercury on the back as he banged his head against the table. It was stupid but Yang found herself laughing harder than she had in a long time.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

AN: so yeah my Penny has braces because its hella cute! Anyhow, Mercury and Emerald will be pretty major characters because they are my favorites. I've planned out this whole fic and I hope to finish it so please stick around!


	3. Chapter 3

Rats of Reality

Chapter 3:

AN: so last chapter has this really weird glitch in between yang and rubys segments so you couldn't tell where each started? My phone really doesn't take well to the non mobile version of the website (I wonder why). So ill try to fix it from now on. And make longer chapters because damn they've been short as hell. Also I'm going to be updating on Fridays normally, but don't expect me to stick to that schedule.

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Chapter 3:

Yang went to school with dread and a frown on her face, but as she left- she was laughing and smiling. Despite still being uneasy around her new classmates, her new aquaintences- no, her new friends didn't rub her the wrong way like before. Especially Blake. Blake was quiet and mysterious, but Yang truly enjoyed the time she spent with her.

After lunch, Ms. Salem had assigned a group project on World War One. She ended up in a group with Emerald, Mercury and Blake– they split the work up into two groups, that of which Emerald and Mercury sort of split off from Yang and Blake. The two of them decided to work on their side of the assignment after school on Wednesday, so they used their class time to chat. And they used their time after class talking, though it was mostly Yang wording up the hallway while Blake interjected with a few comments once in awhile.

On the other hand; Ruby's smiling face from that morning had been replaced with a tired look of aggravation. The brunette's entire day was taken up by avoiding Penny, and that was much harder than it sounded, the ginger was more clingy than velcro.

When Ruby jumped into her father's car, she slid down the seat with the biggest sigh possible. Her dad gave her a strange look, "Everything okay, kiddo?" she sighed again, puffing her cheeks out and looking away "No, it's nothing."

"If you're giving me that look, I highly doubt it." he said, laughing as he drove around to the other side of the school to pick up Yang. "Come on, Rubes, you know you can talk to me about anything." his only reply was "Seriously dad it's nothing. I'm just really tired."

"If you say so," he said quietly as he scanned the exit for his blonde bombshell of a daughter. They sat there silently for a bit before Tai spoke "is it a boy?" Even though he was dead wrong, Ruby turned redder than her namesake, stuttering "N-No!" she wasn't comfortable talking about that kind of thing with her dad. Or anyone for that matter.

"Just playing with you kiddo." he chuckled, honking his horn to signal Yang over- who had just left the building with an unfamiliar, black haired girl wearing a bow. Yang waved goodbye to her new friend, trotted to the car and bouncing into the front seat.

Ruby looked at her sister; who had had a complete mood change since earlier that day. "You look happy," she started, still slouching in her seat. "I thought you'd be ready to drop out together after one day, Yang."

Yang stuck her tounge out at her sister, refraining from buckling her seatbelt and opted to just put her feet on the dashboard. "It wasn't so bad," she started "I don't think I like it, but I definitely don't dislike it." she pulled out her phone and began texting Blake wildly.

"Also," she paused, looking back at Ruby for a moment "I made some new... Friends. I guess friends is a loose term in this case."

"Like that girl you were with?" Taiyang speculated, pulling out of the carpool and onto the main road. They normally went straight home, but their uncle Qrow's motorcycle broke down so they needed to pick him up at the police station. The two of them worked in homicide and abuse cases, and were great at it too.

"You mean Blake?" Yang replied, lolling her head back around to face her phone. "She's pretty cool I guess. How was your day dad?" she asked, understanding through pure intuition that Ruby wouldn't talk until later when their dad wasn't there. Taiyang on the other hand, would talk for hours about every detail in his day — from catching a serial killer to reading the comics in the newspaper rather than filling out a case report, and in the most casual manner too.

"Well we managed to finally shut down that gang; the White Fang—" he was cut off by Yang muttering "if it were my gang i'd call it the White Yang." Ruby and Taiyang both groaned before Tai continued.

"Apparently the leader used to go to Beacon. Though we managed to ship the kid off to juvie, the gang was still keeping itself afloat until today."

Taiyang continued for a bit as they pulled into the police station parking lot. "Okay girls, I'm going to get Qrow and file some reports so stay here for a few minutes."

"Okay!" they both replied smiling as their father shut the door and jogged into the station. They say there in silence for a bit before Yang spoke. "What's bothering you Ruby?"

Ruby blinked in confusion "how do you know something is bothering me?" Yang laughed "my sisth sense"

"Now that was just bad," Ruby giggled "but nothing is bothering me immensely, it's just..."

"If nothing is bothering you, then the wouldn't be an 'it's just' in there. You know you can tell me anything..." She tapped out some more texts to Blake. "Is it a guy?"

Ruby kicked the back of Yang's seat "Oh my god, you're just like dad!"

"Is it a girl then?" Yang pestered with a flirtatious wink.

Ruby blushed "Yes and no." Yang gave her a motion to continue and a concerned look. "Yes it's about a girl, but not in the way you're thinking," she started "she is the one that took your place in our class, her name is Penny Polendina. For some reason she's gotten it into her head that I'm gonna be her friend – but like she's so clingy and happy and I don't know what to do! How am I supposed to get rid of her without breaking her heart!" she picked her legs up and curled her arms around her knees, burrowing her face inward.

Yang couldn't help but laugh at her sister's frustration "'clingy and happy?'Ruby, you realize that your description of this kid is similar to you?" Ruby stuck her tounge out and crossed her arms, totally ignoring what Yang had said.

"I mean," Yang continued "no offense, you don't have many close friends. I think that you can enjoy her company, some people are lame or weird or troubled but you can learn to love that about someone!"

Ruby didn't say anything, opting to just look away in a surly manner. Yang looked at her for a long moment before speaking again "Ruby..." her sister looked up slightly, her silver eyes half lidded. "Is this because of me?"

Ruby's eyes widened and she sat up straight, shaking her head profusely "No! Why would you think that? You don't even know her!"

"Neither do you, sis; I feel like you're hating this girl because she replaced me. And I use that term broadly." Ruby didn't nod, but she didn't deny it. "It isn't Penny's fault that I got transferred, Ruby, it's mine. I skipped classes, and failed assignments, and got into fights. Penny didn't do that. Now if she really is all that bad, then you tell her, but don't make judgments on her based on some predetermined hate for whoever got placed in that class." Yang finished her speech and turned back to her phone.

She was right, and Ruby knew it, but Ruby was childishly stubborn sometimes; people forgot that she was two years younger than her peers since she skipped two grades. She was scared that becoming friends with Penny would betray Yang, and Yang was one of the people she held closest. So instead of letting these problems surface in her mind and gobble her sanity, she changed the subject. "So, Yang, what are your new "friends" like?" she said, using air quotes around "friends".

Yang thought for a moment before speaking. What were they like? All she really knew was that Blake was quiet, Cinder was mature, and that Emerald and Mercury were joined at the hip. The same things she had surmised when she had walked into the class that morning. Before she had looked at their actions with scorn, but somehow she forgot about that in talking to them.

"Well first there's Cinder," she started cautiously "she's very mature and elegant, but not like Weiss- more adult I guess. Then there's Emerald and Mercury; kind of her power couple of the class I guess, but when they aren't being coupley they won't stop bickering–Its really cute actually." Ruby was paying close attention "And then there's Blake. She's quiet and considerate and really into books. She's the girl you saw when you and dad picked me up; she's the most normal I guess."

Ruby was glad that Yang was making friends, but scared of what that would mean. She constantly saw the kids on the remedial class smoking behind the school or getting into fights, they were the people she was scared of when walking down the halls. Those sorts of people were not a great influence on the 'go with the flow' Yang. She originally thought they'd be a great influence for her to get out of the class but... Obviously that wasn't the case.

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Expect a new chapter in a w witheek or so, and don't forget to leave a review — I thrive on constructive criticism ;)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Author's note: here we go again with another chapter... So I'm alternating between Yang and Ruby again, so hopefully this website decides to work and recognize a line break...

I don't own RWBY.

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Yang sighed as she walked into the room, hair following behind her and eyes scanning the class in front of her. Sure she was happily rambling about the whole thing the day before– but there were many things that she forgot about before and was receiving a grim reminder on now. Warm, air conditionless humidity housed the smoke from cigarettes– and the noises ranged from loud conversations to loud drumming on the desks. Blake was still in the corner, reading a book, and Mercury was still using Yang's desk to push Emerald against as the two made out.

Her hands were shaking, even though she had been through this the previous day. It was finally sinking in that this whole ordeal was her life now and it wasn't a one time thing, even though she knew that anyways. It wasn't real until now, and it scared her. The uneasiness from her first morning had returned apparently.

She made her way to her seat, tapping Mercury lightly on the shoulder and motioning for him to kindly fuck off. After plopping down into the chair, which had a bending back that'd collapse of she leaned into it, Yang looked over at Blake hopefully. Even though she had been acquainted with some of the other students, Blake made her feel the least uncomfortable.

"You've regressed." Blake said suddenly, still not looking up from her book. Yang internally applauded her for being able to multitask so well.

"What?"

"You're less comfortable today than you were yesterday."

"Ah, right, I guess it's finally real that I'm not going to college, since this is a remedial class and all..."

Blake looked offended at that and stayed silent for a moment; Yang internally face palmed for that comment, hoping that Blake would continue to humor her spoilt tendencies. After a few more moments, Blake spoke again.

"It's a remedial class for you, Yang."

Right. She had almost forgotten that half the class were foster kids or couldn't afford the top classes that the rest of Beacon had to offer. Instead they got an indifferent teacher, a musty room, and the idiots from the rest of the school. Obviously Blake was smart, and not one of those stupid kids— she wanted to go someplace, and Yang's comment only further drilled it in that it was unlikely.

Wincing, Yang replied "I'm sorry, that comment was insensitive to you guys. I was just talking about me and—"

"I know Yang," Blake started, cutting off Yang's rambling apology "I'm not mad at you; just... Mad at the system I guess..."

Yang totally got that, even if it wasn't Beacon level, they should have a higher level class for people like Blake and Emerald. They stayed silent and remained that way throughout the buzz of the classroom, and by the time Salem started the class up – they still hadn't left that silence.

It wasn't an awkward silence, or a tense one, just a comfortable silence that one could only share with someone they were okay around.

The class started with English again, and while the class silent read the next few chapters of "The Thief and the Butcher", Yang had to take the test from the day before. She had meant to only read the first few chapters, but had become so engrossed in it that she finished all 600 pages of it the night prior. According to Blake, most of the class was reading it for the second time at this point since they had done the same thing — unless they hadn't even started the book like Mercury.

The questions on the test were relatively hard, and Yang had to think about each question before answering. This didn't seem like stupid kid work to her, and whether or not Blake and the others were smart, that didn't change Yang's reason for being in this class– because she failed and skipped all previous ones. She lost her privilege of prestigious academies and colleges. She wasn't going anywhere.

That was probably why she felt so uneasy every time she walked in. Because she felt like she belonged with them, she felt better around them, and in her eyes that was haunting. Luckily she had read the book thoroughly and managed to answer all the questions.

Once her test had ended and the class finished the assigned portion of the novel, Ms. Salem had decided to "let your creative juices flow–" in some poetry writing. Though her introduction into the subject was inspiring and sweet; apparently she had just been watching the "Dead Poets Society" the previous night and she felt she needed to step up as a teacher.

"So before we get into any poetry analysis or structure– I want everyone to write a poem, it doesn't have to rhyme if you don't want, about how you feel on a daily basis." she proposed, picking up a piece of chalk and scrawling "POETRY" in big, loopy letters. She continued to speak as she wrote down the assignment, "Now as I do love creativity and expression, do be mindful of what you write, since I am legally obligated to report anything I think might be going on..."

Her voice was stern as she scanned the room with her beady eyes, implying the obvious: abuse, self harm, harm onto others, ect.. However her pupils stared specifically at a few faces that she probably suspected had those things as a part of their lives. She felt out of place again, with her almost perfect family and no money problems – the only problem her family had was her.

Maybe that's what she'd write about.

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Ruby had had enough.

She sat there steaming adorably with rage as Professor Ooblek lectured – ignoring Penny as she smiled sweetly at her. How couldn't she understand that Ruby was not interested in friendship with her? Ruby wasn't interested in anything with her.

The problem was that despite her frustration and annoyed thoughts, Ruby Rose couldn't be mean to anyone — not even Penny Polendina. Ruby prided herself on her kindness and acceptance of people, and despite desperately wanting out of any situation with the carrot haired girl, she couldn't just let her down.

So rather than taking notes on the lesson, she went through her thoughts like a deck of cards. There wasn't any particular reason for her contempt, maybe it was just stress. It had been almost two years since her mom died, it took all Ruby had to keep herself and grades together – she guessed that Penny was just someone that she could release all those feelings on. Someone she could blame her issues on, since she couldn't hate any of her friends, they were all there for her.

"Hello Ruby-friend!" Penny exclaimed as they exited the classroom, she had a hop in her step, so her head would bob up and down as she walked to keep up with Ruby. "That was a mighty fine lecture we had today, wasn't it?"

Ruby looked up at her, trying to keep her face friendly "...Yeah"

"Well then matey, I'll be seeing you!" the freckle clad girl stated, waving as she grinned widely. Even though Penny was dreadfully attached to Ruby at this point, she hadn't wanted to eat lunch with her. That made Ruby more relieved than curious, but still curious nonetheless.

"Yeah, okay, I'll be seeing you too!"

She muttered unenthusiasticly, stuffing her hands into her red hoodie as she walked to lunch.

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Lunch couldn't have arrived too soon– not because Yang was uninterested in the class, quite the contrary actually, it was just that she was starving. Her only breakfast that morning had been half a cup of coffee and not enough sleep. Normally she would snag a few cookies from her sister since they had shared a few classes, but that was no longer the case.

This time, she knew she would sit with Blake and the others, so she was more sure of herself this time as she collected herself to leave the classroom. Blake and Emerald had stayed behind to wait for Yang since they were engrossed in a book discussion that would take awhile anyways. And Blake had waited for Yang the previous two times, so the blonde hoped that that would continue.

Before she reached the door, she was stopped by Ms. Salem's voice, "Yang," she started, beckoning the blonde over to her desk.

"Yeah?" Yang replied, eyes darting behind her to make sure Blake and Emerald were still there. When it was confirmed they were, she turned back to Salem. "What is it, miss?"

The teacher leaned sideways against her chair, directly looking into Yang's lilac gaze before she spoke, "I understand that this is a huge adjustment for you Yang– and I know that the kids in this class aren't exactly..." she trailed off before Yang suggested "First rate citizens?" the teacher chuckled, "yeah, you could say that. I just need you to know that your classmates may be from different backgrounds, but they aren't lowlifes."

Yang saw where the woman was going with this. She understood; all that was going through her head were thoughts on this subject. "And while I advise you to be wary of who you are influenced by, don't turn away from someone because they don't have much money or they smoke cigarettes."

The teacher ended the moment with a shooing gesture and Yang walked over to Blake and Emerald. Even though Salem had just repeated Yang's worries out loud, it gave the blond confidence to just to what made her happy for now. Go with it until something truly screamed otherwise.

"I'm just saying, 'Violet's Garden' is a far more sophisticated work than 'The Man With Two Souls'. That book is a young adult fiction at best— oh hey Yang!" Emerald turned to Yang and Blake followed. "What was that about?" she asked, Yang was unsure whether to tell them that it was about them.

"Just making sure that I was up to date with the lessons and stuff." the blonde replied shakily. It was a weak answer but they seemed to take it.

"Right, you're from the smart people classes... Probably ahead on all these subjects though. Don't see how she'd be worried." the mint haired girl said, eyes rolling as they turned a corner to the actual lunch table. It wasn't raining that day, so they could sit in their normal seats, and Yang didn't even know the spot existed. It was a white gazebo, covered in vines and some orchids— it wasn't very big or crowded too.

"Ha!" Yang started with a laugh, "I skipped most of my classes, so I'm probably behind anyways."

Blake looked at her, puzzled, "why didn't you go to class?"

Yang shrugged, "I guess I thought that it was a waste of time..." now she didn't. Her mind was only set on what was happening right then and there, and didn't think about the consequences.

The three of them at down on the ground in the small circular gazebo, Emerald on Mercury's lap and Yang next to Blake- Cinder sat at the top of the arc.

"So," Mercury started "if electricity comes from electrons, shouldn't morality come from morons?" he said with a wink. Yang snickered, having an appreciation for bad jokes.

"No, because I don't see any morality coming from you." Blake said monotonously, flipping the page in her book.

That made Yang laugh harder, her side starting to ache a bit- falling down onto the book Blake was reading and looking up at her, tears in her eyes.

"It wasn't even that good." Blake said, eyebrow raised.

Yang laughed some more "So? I like laughing!"

"You should try it sometime Blake!" Mercury said, still pouting about that insult that he was just asking for.

Blake rolled her eyes and turned back to her book which Yang was currently on top of as she lay on Blake's lap, looking at her with cheerful, friendly eyes "What are you doing?"

"Just Yanging out!" the blonde said with a wink.

Mercury groaned and Emerald facepalmed. Blake, on the other hand, burst into laughter.

And it was the most wonderful sound Yang had heard in awhile.

/

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Author's note (again):

Okay so I know that there hasn't been much Nuts and Dolts so far. There will be, trust me. The bumblebee will be slow burn though it doesn't look like it now. And Ruby will get over her remorse for Penny soon.

Expect another chapter whenever, and please leave a review! I'm open to constructive criticism! I write fanfiction to casually improve my writing while waiting for RWBY volume 4 to come out!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Author's Note: For those of you who are here for the Ruby and Penny— fret not, there is mostly nuts and Dolts in this chapter!

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Ruby exited her final class annoyed. Her dad had just texted her that he'd be at least twenty minutes late. So that was forty five minuets doing absolutely nothing. Sure she could go find Yang-but Ruby bet that her older sister was probably hanging out with her new friends, and as much as Yang seemed to like them, Ruby would rather wait awhile. So that meant... Nothing.

She felt a little weird loitering around the benches in the courtyard, fiddling with her phone and cursing her friends for having better things to do other than text her. Though a senior in highschool, she was still only 15, and got bored very easily.

Her family realized early on that a bored Ruby, was the worst Ruby- as she was both nosy and nagging. She poked her nose into everything that could possibly relieve her of sitting still and being bored. It was only natural to perk up at the loud crash coming from a few hallways down.

She jolted up and curiously tiptoed to the noise's origin.

Her eyes widened when she saw what was going on "Penny?" she whispered, shell shocked at the scene in front of her.

There was the innocent carrot top, blood on her face as she was slammed into a locker by a big, stereotypical bully looking guy. Cardin Winchester. His friends were laughing, cheering him on as Penny shook silently. Ruby could see her bright green eyes fighting back tears.

All negative feelings toward Penny immediately disintegrated and Ruby felt her muscles coil in anger. She took back thoughts on Yang's new friends being the worst sort– these boys were in some of her classes, they were popular and well liked. They were cruel.

"Leave her alone!" Ruby exclaimed suddenly, shaking a bit with the words.

Cardin looked back at her maliciously, bulky arm still pinning Penny to the locker. His friends shut up for a second, looking back at the hooded brunette and whistling like douchebags. Penny's eyes widened a bit, but then squeezed shut at another jab from her oppressor.

"What could you possibly do?" Cardin taunted "throw cookies at me?"

Ruby would've made a rant about how cookies were a totally valid diet if Cardin was her friend. Unfortunately for him– Cardin was definitely not her friend. Also unfortunate (for him)- Ruby's uncle loved showing her and her sister fighting techniques that they learned in training.

He motioned for his cronies to pummel Ruby into the ground- and the three of them gathered around her, ready to tackle the 15 year old.

Within a minute, she had all of them on the ground, and she was ready to charge at Cardin. He was the worst sort of guy, and Ruby then realized that he was beating up the best sort of person.

He removed his arm from her neck, letting her crumple to the floor. Cracking his knuckles, he charged at Ruby, almost glad to have some fresh blood; however he found himself with his arm twisted around his back and pressed up against a locker with a clang.

"Don't mess with my friends."

Ruby's own eyes widened slightly at the words coming out of her mouth, but there were bigger things at hand here. "Got it?"

Cardin nodded nervously and Ruby dropped him to the ground, letting him feel how Penny felt moments earlier. She grabbed the carrot haired girl's hand and pulled her away from the scene, sprinting as fast as possible for a girl of her size. Penny was surprisingly light though...

Ruby made her way around the corner, panting a bit; she was always good at track so it wasn't to big of a problem. She looked back to Penny, who was still shocked by the whole thing that had just happened.

"Are you okay?"

It was the first thing Ruby had said to her and she knew that she wasn't okay at all. However the orange haired girl hesitated a bit to think before shaking her head. "Well it will be now," Ruby stated in assurance "how long has this whole thing been going on?"

Penny just shrugged, picking herself off the ground, straightening her bow– or at least trying to, since it seemed fixated on staying lopsided as always. "Since I got here, I think." She said, factually.

Ruby's eyes widened a bit "Penny, why didn't you tell someone?"

The other girl bit her lip "I didn't want to cause anymore trouble than necessary," she started "and even though you were very nice to me, I could tell you weren't very interested in being my friend..."

Ruby felt awful, but she knew she could still make up for it. "You're right," she started "I wasn't."

Penny looked heartbroken when her suspicions were confirmed but then Ruby continued. "But it wasn't your fault, Penny! It was just me being childish. My sister got kicked out of our class, and you got her spot. I sort of blamed you, y'know? Like I thought that maybe if you didn't want to get into the class, then she wouldn't have been kicked out!" Ruby laughed quietly and sardonically as she continued, Penny listening quietly "I resented you because you were always so quirky and happy despite my sister being miserable..." she trailed off before grappling Penny into a bone crushing hug. "Please give me another chance!"

Penny looked dumbstruck for a few moments before returning Ruby's embrace "...Of course."

/

Frankly, Yang was happy to stay at school for a half an hour or so. Blake normally waited around the school for an hour waiting for her ride; Cinder, Emerald and Mercury sort of kept her company, and so Yang could just hang out and not feel lonely.

The five of them sat around the same gazebo as before, Mercury leaning against a tree smoking, Emerald and Cinder trying to get work done, and Blake reading next to Yang.

The two of them had yet to really work on their history project, so Yang managed to convince her dad to let Blake come over for dinner and homework. Yang really just wanted to hang out but she knew that Blake was intent on trying in even the lower class.

The blonde was on the edge of her seat with hyperness "Whatcha reading?" she asked, looking over Blake's shoulder. The bow wearing girl promptly blushed, slammed the book shut, got up, and sat on it. "N-nothing!" she snapped, probably in the loudest voice Yang had ever heard her use.

"Ninja porn" Mercury said, flicking his lighter a bit before giving up and just spitting out the cigarette.

Blake covered her head with her hands, burrowing it into her knees, blushing furiously.

"Really?" Yang said deviously "I always thought you were into classic literature and smart people stuff!" she began rolling around on the floor laughing. Blake rolled her eyes, face still beet red "It is literature! You guys can't just handle its depth!" she argued

"I'm sure that Yang can handle any depth." Mercury stated suggestively, to which Yang threw a book at his face.

Blake was still blushing over the whole 'Ninja Porn' comment. "it's okay Blake! Now I know that when you're reading studiously in class, its not because you're smart but because you need to get off!" Yang joked, Mercury proceeded to laugh and Blake groaned.

"I don't only read this! I just started it!" Blake protested.

"For the twentieth time." Mercury mumbled. Yang laughed a bit more but still patted Blake on the back to console her.

"Don't fret Blakey! I won't judge!" Yang said. Actually this whole thing was the opposite. This whole time she had seen Blake as an adult, as a smart and mature girl with no emotion. However this made Yang see that Blake was much more than that.

Yang's teasing was cut off by Mercury's phone ringing. He spit out his cigarette and looked at the caller, scowling a bit before answering.

Yang looked at Blake "What's that about?" she questioned. Blake shrugged but her eyes said that she knew.

Emerald rolled her eyes and butted into their conversation "The asshole keeps forgetting he has physical therapy at four." she shook her head a bit more "Responsibility is obviously not a word in his limited vocabulary."

Yang cocked an eyebrow "Physical therapy?"

"Oh right, you're new..." Emerald said "it's a long story but Merc's legs are amputated from the knee down. He can walk okay now with the prosthetics so he doesn't give a shit about physical therapy..." she trailed off looking annoyed at her boyfriend.

"Oh." Yang was surprised- Mercury didn't seem like he had any trouble with walking or anything. Actually he was known to pick fights with people and win- so she didn't expect that.

Before Yang could pursue the subject further, she heard the unmistakable voice of her little sister "Yang?"

She turned her head to see Ruby and a orange haired girl standing a few feet from the gazebo.

"Oh, hiya sis!" Yang said, waving lazily. Ruby looked uncomfortable but walked on in anyways

"Um can you ask dad if Penny can come home with us too?" she asked, motioning to her friend with the orange hair.

Yang's eyebrows raised "Penny as in-" Ruby cut her off "Yes Yang, that Penny!"

Yang smirked "I told you so." and Ruby proceeded to groan "I am aware!"

The other people in the area looked at the sisters quizzically before going back to what they were previously doing. Yang motions her sister to get closer to the group, Penny doesn't seem to care about it but Ruby looks uneasy. "Come here Rubbles!"

Ruby proceeds to roll her eyes and sit down across from Yang and Blake. Her paranoid stare not leaving Yang's new friends. "okay, Yang, now you introduce your friends..."

Yang couldn't catch the obvious uneasiness in her sister's voice, and smiled brightly "Okay! Well that's Cinder and Emerald," she points to the aforementioned Cinder and Emerald "Mercury had to leave," she decided not to say why, since that seemed personal "and this is Blake!"

When introducing Blake, she pointed with jazz hands, as if she was a Grande Finale. Fortunately for Blake, no one saw her blushing.

Cinder and Emerald gave brief nods to Ruby, and Blake stood up to shake her hand. Yang looked proud at her newly linked friend circle, grimacing a bit when she thought of Weiss' reaction to those she would describe as "scoundrels!"

Yang turns to Ruby "And on the Penny thing, I'm sure that Dad will let her come over, seeing as Blake is coming over too. But I'll text him first."

Midway through texting, she paused "Why couldn't you ask dad? You have a phone."

Ruby blushed "I may have stolen extra cookies this morning. He's still mad at me! He's more likely to say yes to you."

Yang laughed and sent the text.

To: Daddio

Hey Rubes has a crush on the new girl. New girl is totes coming over. Save a seat in the car. Kthnxbai

She showed the message to Blake, who chuckled. Ruby didn't mind her; Blake. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

AN: SO SORRY FOR THE SHORT, LATE UPDATE! HAPPY NEW YEARS! HAPPY VOLUME 4! MERRY CHRISTMAS! ect.

I'll try to update more often! Please review! I love to hear what you all think!


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